CALENDAR ACTIVITIES  

As adults we rely on calendars to keep us organized, on time, and aware of how fast times flies. Calendars are everywhere--computers, watches, phones, and even on the Wii Fit. Our children too will come to rely on these calendars. Why not introduce them now to an aid that will become a major part of their lives.

Basic wall calendars offer so many learning opportunities which can be motivating and fun. Here are some language skills that you can develop by sharing calendar time with your child:

numbers: Counting the days that past and matching the written numeral with the verbal label. Anticipating the date through rote counting quickly becomes an opportunity to boost self-esteem!

days of week before/after next: Review the sequence of days in month, days in the week, and months in the year. Practice the temporal concepts of before, after and next in regards to day, week, month and year.

month/week day left-right orientation: It is never too soon to develop literacy skills. It is easy to introduce that the calendar is read left to right with lines moving from the top to the bottom.

counting days: review math skills with a familiar visual material. Children can count the number of day that passed in the month or week. Older students can count the number of days until the weekend, a special event, or the end of the month. Practice the concepts of how many, days left, days until, days ago, and other temporal concepts.

seasons: Take time to talk about the season and the months that comprise it. Observe the weather, clothes worn, special events, and associate activities. This builds vocabulary and categorization skills.

commenting: Looking outside and commenting on the predictable things seen everyday provides opportunities for your child to comment and practice sentence structure. Noticing differences (i.e.flowers are growing, cars parked in new spaces) help to develop attention, observational skills and memory. Discussing the weather provides opportunities for new vocabulary,and the introduction of synonyms, antonyms & related idioms.

verb tenses: As we talk about the calendar temporal concepts and verb tenses are naturally used. Eplore the present (today), past (yesterday, last week or month) and future (tomorow, next week/month.) Practice the "ed" that indicates something alread happened and the "will happen" forms.